Sanders Applauds Grassroots New York, Calls for National Fracking Ban

Sharpening the contrast between himself and Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Monday told a crowd of 5,000 New Yorkers that he “applauded” them for “standing up to Governor Cuomo and demanding that New York state ban fracking.”

“What you have done is prove to the world that when people stand up and form a grassroots movement of environmentalists, public health advocates, farmers, working families, and religious leaders there is nothing that we cannot accomplish,” Sanders declared at a campaign stop in in Binghamton, which is part of the Southern Tier region of New York known as the “fracking belt.”

“If we are serious, we need to put an end to fracking not only in New York and Vermont but all over this country,” added the Vermont senator.

Watch the section of the speech below:

Ahead of the contentious April 19 New York primary, Sanders and his advocates have been highlighting some of the “very important differences,” as he put it Monday, between the Democratic candidates, including their stances on the oil and gas drilling practice.

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During the rally on Monday, Josh Fox, director of the documentary Gasland, joined Sanders on stage to elucidate on the candidates’ differing views.

“Hillary Clinton just said, ‘I support the New York fracking ban,'” said Fox, whose film is widely credited with bringing the toxic impacts of fracking in the spotlight. “But Hillary Clinton, as secretary of state, developed the global shale gas initiative, which sold fracking to 30 countries worldwide. And she is advocating for a ‘natural gas bridge to the future.’ What does that mean? It means frack gas pipelines crisscrossing everywhere. It means 300 new pipelines that will last for decades.”